By arosema93
At my ‘Uni’, the Australian National University, I have been living at a college for the last 7 months. And yes, there is a difference between a university and a college in Australia. They ARE different things, which can initially lead to some confusion. While a university is exactly what we would think of a university, a college is a residence hall on or near the university, similar to a dorm, but not always owned by the university. At ANU, international students and students from other states are guaranteed a spot at a college if they choose to accept it.
However, besides living in it, the similarities to an American dorm ends about there. First of all, every room is a single. Everywhere. Australians enjoy living in single rooms and find the concept of living with other people, sometimes random new people, to be extremely weird and uncomfortable. As GW students, we often think of people who choose single rooms as being quiet or shy or something along those lines. No one really wants a single room unless they are antisocial. In Australia, this is not the case due to the nature of what a college is. While colleges do feature single rooms, they also all have some sorts of central areas where large amounts of socialization take place. Instead of partying or hanging out in someone’s room, socialising takes place in a large common area with all the other residents. Sometimes, as in the case of my college, the common area can feature things like a massive kitchen where all the ressies cook and eat meals, a fully stocked bar, a lounge area, and a games room with pool and ping pong.
Colleges often have much better community than any living option in America. In some ways, it is like an American frat, without the focus on parties. There is quite a wide range of various events run by members of the college for the other members. This sometimes includes academic events, such as dinners or forums held with professors or academics. Sometimes the events are parties for the whole college. Sometimes they are arts competitions with other colleges such as the talent show we held last week, or the poetry slam before that.
There are also intercollege sports. Universities in Australia are typically few and far apart. Logistically, this makes sporting events between universities hard to organize and a pain to travel to. And when they do occur, lack of spectator enthusiasm makes them quite different from what you would expect of universities playing against each other. Instead, sporting events typically revolve around colleges within one university competing. A number of sports are played each semester and are open to experienced players and novices alike. The fact is, while the sports are competitive, they also provide a great opportunity to learn great new sports.
Basically, what I am getting at is just how great the community at a college is. There is a HUGE range of diversity. People come from all walks of life and all kinds of personalities. The head of the hall each year goes through applications from all the new students in order to see which ones would make a good fit and add to the diversity, and sometimes this even includes looking through the students facebook page to see what they are like. Colleges are what I think would make a model accommodation for uni students everywhere and an experience that anyone studying abroad in Australia should not pass up.